– Gawain
Jones on Monday ensured his
victory in the British
Knockout Championship with 2
Rapid wins over fellow
English GM Luke McShane,
taking him to an
insurmountable 17-3 lead
without any need for points
in the Blitz portion of the
match.

In the first
Rapid game, McShane –
desperately needing a win to
get back in contention,
played an unsound knight
sacrifice in the hopes of
levering open the kingside.
Jones refuted the sacrifice,
wrapping up efficiently, and
despite some nervy play in
the second game, only once
looked in danger when
McShane could have tried to
mix it up by opening files
against the king.

Gawain Jones
(right) more
effectively took
his chances in
his match with
Luke McShane,
who

had a mountain
to climb after
losing Classical
Game 2 on Sunday
(Photo:
Lennart Ootes)

The
remainder of the games were
played out in exhibition
style, even though the match
was decided, as per the
tournament rules. The final
score, after all 8 games,
was 21-7.

In the Third
Place Playoff match, Mickey
Adams eventually triumphed
16-12, winning the second
Rapid game and the last two
Blitz games. The fact that
the match was in doubt until
the last Blitz game
underscored that Adams
appeared to be struggling to
find his best form.

The British
Knockout was run alongside
the London Chess Classic,
the final leg of the Grand
Chess Tour, and provided
welcome excitement during
some of the Classical GCT
games, where high-level
endgame technique and subtle
defensive resources led to
drawn games without many
thrills and spills for the
average chess fan to
appreciate.

Jones takes
home a first prize of
£15,000 and McShane, as
runner-up, wins £10,000.
Adams received £6,000 for
his third-place finish, and
Howell picked up £4,000 for
fourth.